Meeting Halfway
by iamalice
Summary: This story takes place between the season two finale, "Becoming, Part Two" and the season three premiere, "Anne". Buffy is leaving Sunnydale, so is Spike. They meet halfway. One-shot.


**MEETING HALFWAY**

_This story takes place between the season two finale, "Becoming, Part Two" and the season three premiere, "Anne". Buffy is leaving Sunnydale, so is Spike. They meet halfway. One-shot._

Buffy stared to the ground. She didn't want anyone to see her teary eyes. There was nothing left for her in life. She had nothing to look forward to, not anymore.

When she finally reached the bus stop, she wiped off her tears and blinked as the sun blinded her. She quickly closed her eyes and the image of Angel rushed back into her mind.

She grabbed hold of a tree. No. No, she couldn't think about Angel. But deep down she knew it was impossible to erase the memory of him. And even when she managed to keep him out of her head for a few moments, she wasn't necessarily happier. She thought of her friends, Willow, Xander, Oz and Cordelia. And Giles. She wondered what they were doing right now.

And how was Angel? What was it like in a hell dimension? Since that was where she'd sent him…

No, this was too much for her. It was just too much. She couldn't think about him, Buffy knew that, or it was going to drive her insane.

She closed her eyes. She kept them closed until about twenty minutes later when she heard motor noises. The bus. It was finally here. She opened her eyes. But it wasn't the bus. It was a car. The windows, the front shield and the back window were covered with… something.

The car decelerated slowly and finally stopped right in front of her. As she came closer to it, she heard a furious "Bloody hell!" coming out of it.

Spike.

It was Spike.

He slightly opened the door so he could see through it without incinerating. He blinked and then looked at Buffy. "Slayer," he said.

"Spike," Buffy said, "What are you doing?"

"What's it look like!" he said, hiding from the sunlight. "I'm sitting in my car."

She looked at him suspiciously. He rolled his eyes. "I've run out of fuel."

"Well, I don't know of a gas station round here," Buffy replied, not without a certain mischievous undertone in her voice.

"Well, of course not. If I had enough fuel, I would have driven to the sodding petrol station by now. What are you doing here anyway?" He looked up at Buffy, furrowing his brow. "What happened with Angel?"

Buffy gulped. "Dead."

Spike hushed for a moment. "I killed him," Buffy said quietly after a while, "Willow gave him back his soul right before I did it, but… I had to."

Spike still didn't speak. "I'm sorry," he said after a moment.

Buffy laughed. "Yeah, right."

"No, I am. Well, at least you're alive. I honestly thought he was gonna gut you. Now get me some petrol, will you?"

"Why would I do that? I hate you," the slayer said. "Plus, my bus will be here soon," she accidentally added.

"Bus," Spike repeated doubtfully. "Where are you going?"

Buffy didn't answer.

"You're running away?" He looked at her and shook his head. "Don't do that, slayer."

"You're evil, I hate you, we're mortal enemies, you're telling me to stay. But I had decided to go anyway." Buffy looked up to the sky and pretended to think. "Yup, only backs me up in my decision."

"I'm serious, you–"

"I'm not staying, OK!" Buffy said, "There's nothing left for me in Sunnydale. I got kicked out of school, my mom and I… we…" Her voice broke down.

"You've had better days, huh?" Spike said.

To her own surprise, Buffy caught herself laughing a little. "Yeah, well… It's probably the worst day of my life. With you showing up here, it's officially complete."

"Don't go, Buffy," Spike said, without responding to the slayer's clearly insulting words. He had this honest and caring undertone, Buffy noticed. _It's probably fake,_ she thought._ Spike couldn't be honest, not ever. He couldn't actually care._

_Could he?_

"It's stupid. And it's not like you. You're not the one to run," he continued. "You solve problems, you save the world. You're not a quitter."

"What are you saying?" Buffy yelled, suddenly furious. "What, you _know_ me now? You don't know_ anything_ about me! You have _no idea_ what you're talking about!"

"Damn right I d– ow! Bloody hell!" Spike was just about to get out of the car when the sun started burning his body. He quickly ran back into the car. "I'm just saying," he continued, "I've been on this planet longer than you, slayer. I know things. And I know that running is not the way."

"Right." Buffy rolled her eyes. "And what, in your opinion, is _the way_?"

Buffy was surprised that she even bothered asking. That she even wanted to know what Spike had to say. She was just about to say something offensive, but Spike had already started speaking.

"Stay," he said, "Figure things out. Look, running away only makes things worse. I did it. Back when… It's a long story. But, the point is, one day you'll come back and that's when you wish you hadn't left. There will be problems waiting for you and the longer you're gone, the more they'll get."

God, he sounded so serious. And Spike was never serious. He was constantly joking around, making fun of people, being sarcastic and annoying. What was this?

"What are you gonna do anyway?" he asked. "Huh? Do you have a _plan_? Any kind of plan?"

"Stop making this harder," Buffy whispered, teary-eyed. She quickly wiped them off, but Spike could clearly see that she was crying. "And I _do_ have a plan. Kind of."

"Well, yeah, of course you do. You're the slayer, probably one of the best the world's ever seen."

Buffy culped. "I'm done slaying."

"Well, yay for us vamps," Spike said. They just looked at each other for a little while until they noticed a bus coming towards them.

"Guess your ride's here," Spike said.

"Yeah. I have to go." Buffy grabbed her bag.

"Right, well… I'll just wait here till tonight when I can go get myself some petrol."

"Good luck," Buffy heard herself saying. Why did she wish Spike good luck? Spike should have bad luck, bad, bad luck. Never ending streaks of bad luck. For eternity.

"So, where are you going?" he asked. "Are you going to Mexico? Because I was in Mexico this one time and they had–"

"LA," she interrupted. "You?"

"Gonna see Dru," he answered. "Now that Angel's out of the picture… thanks for that, by the way. I mean…" Spike saw Buffy's face. "I'm sorry. Really am." He gave her a little smile. "Take care, slayer." Then he closed the door.

The bus stopped and Buffy got in. As the bus started driving, she looked back at Spike's car. "You too," she said quietly, sat down and took her lunch box out of her bag.


End file.
